Talented Guard to Visit Barbee's Tigers

Combo guard basketball prospect is making Auburn his first stop of a coast-to-coast tour of official recruiting visits.

Memphis, Tenn.--Ande Hollins will begin a busy official visit schedule this weekend as he travels to Auburn for the first of his five trips to college campuses.

The talented six-foot-two combo guard from White Station High School is rated as the number 30 shooting guard prospect for the 2011 basketball signee class by Scout.com.

This season, as a senior, Hollins is expected to spend a lot of his time at the point guard spot, a position handled very well last season at White Station High by five-star 2009-2010 senior Joe Jackson, who signed with Memphis.

Hollins tuned up for his senior season with an impressive performance on the AAU circuit playing for the Memphis Magic Elite team, which finished as the runnerup at the Adidas Super 64 Tournament in Last Vegas, which attracts top AAU teams from around the nation.

"We made a great run the in the Adidas Super 64 Tournament," he says. "We lost in the championship game, but it was a great accomplishment for the program."

Prior to that Hollins was a standout performer at the Tony Barbee Elite Camp on the Auburn campus, a place he is headed back to this week to visit and spend time with Barbee, the new Auburn head coach, and his staff.

In addition to playing AAU basketball, Hollins has been training to become a better-around player.

"I have been working on my ball-handling and my point guard skills," he says. "I have been working on playing on the ball more since Joe Jackson graduated last year. I?have been working on everything--strength, conditioning and trying to get better every day."

Hollins is turning his attention to choosing a college. "It is going well," he says. "I have narrowed my list to five schools.

"I am coming to Auburn this weekend and then I am going to Harvard the weekend after next," he notes. "Then I am going to Minnesota the 24th-26th, the weekend after Harvard, and then first week in October I am going to Ole Miss and then I think the third weekend of October I am going to Stanford."

Commenting on what interests him about his five finalists, the guard says, "With Auburn I really like the coaching staff. I think they are a bunch of guys who really know what they are talking about. They are a bunch of winners. Last year they won the Conference USA championship and have a history of winning and I want to be around coaches with a winning tradition.

"With Harvard the academics stand alone," he says. "It is a great opportunity and I have a good relationship with Coach (Yanni) Hufnagel and Coach (Tommy) Amaker.

"With Minnesota I really like Tubby Smith," Hollins points out. "He is a great coach and I want to see what they are talking about. They are in need of a guard so I could have an opportunity to play early.

"At Ole Miss I have a great relationship with Coach (Michael) White and Coach (Andy) Kennedy," he says "They have been recruiting me since I was in the ninth grade and they have been on me since then and it is close to home.

"At Stanford it is the academics I like and my relationship with Coach (Johnny) Dawkins and Coach (Mike) Schrage. I visited Stanford this summer. I took an unofficial there so I kind of know what it is about.

"I can't wait to go on these visits to see what everybody is talking about," says Hollins, who plans to bring his parents with him. "They are coming on all of my visits and I really appreciate them doing that."

An honor student in high school, Hollins notes that he has a 4.5 grade point average headed into his senior year at White Station High.

Hollins visited Auburn in June where he showed his skills at a one-day camp for prospects.

"I remember the new facilities being very nice, but I really didn't get the full aspect of it because school wasn't in session on my first visit," he says. "I got a chance to talk to Coach Barbee down there and I am looking forward to going there again."